Hope and Wait with Perseverance

"...if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. (Rom 8, 25)

A Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi on the Forthcoming Philippine Elections 2010

Introduction

As we celebrate the motherhood of Mary, we reflect on her faith and how she cooperated with God's plan. As the Mother of God, she is our hope and refuge. Ina, Our Lady of Peñafrancia, is the hope of every Bikolano and every devotee.

This year, the national and local elections signal new hope. The automation gives us reason to be optimistic that the election will reflect the people's true will. We are hopeful that through the automation, fraud in the counting of votes will be eliminated.

By their vote, the people express their hope for a better future. But this hope needs to be coupled with a commitment to vote for leaders who will promote common good. To vote is not only a duty as citizens but as believers of Christ.

Time and again, the Church has called upon the faithful to follow their conscience so they may cast a meaningful vote. But following one's conscience requires an enlightened conscience. It must be attended by a pursuit of truth, and a discernment of God's message in concrete circumstances. It is therefore crucial for every faithful citizen to truly understand the political situation of our country.

The Political Landscape in the Philippines

In Rerum Novarum issued in 1891, the Church has denounced the concentration of power upon a small number of very rich men who "lay upon the laboring poor a yoke a little better than that of slavery itself." (RN, 3) Sadly, this situation persists in our country and hinders democracy to mature and permeate in our society. Oligarchy, the rule of elite families, negates democracy.

Philippine politics has all the characteristics of an oligarchy. The national and local governments are run by elite families of around 300 in the entire country. According to the latest Social System survey, only 1% of the total Philippine population belong to the ruling class that craft the social, political and economic life of the country. On the other hand, only 9% belong to the middle class while the great majority, 90% of the population, belong to the lower class.

The ruling class enjoys more than half of the country's wealth. They rule the country by provinces, congressional districts, cities and municipalities. Behold some features of oligarchic politics in our country:

Election Fraud and Violence. Illegal voter registration, intimidation and undue pressure of voters, vote buying and vote rigging (dagdag-bawas) are prevalent. Election-related violence such as killings and kidnappings are widespread. On November 23, 2009, in Maguindanao, the world witnessed the worst election-related violence.

Costly Campaigns. Campaigns become more expensive when competition becomes intense, when economic stakes are high and when the electorate continue to expand. Tri-media advertisements are used long before the campaign period.

Political Turncoatism. Turncoatism or the switching from one party is commonplace due to the absence of marked differences in ideology, platforms and programs. Shifting allegiances are based on party resources and winnability and not on principles.

Quid Pro Quo Politics. What binds or unbinds our political leaders is quid pro quo politics which means "something for something." Political leaders enter into arrangements with other politicians that benefit both of them. Also called transactional politics, this exchange of favors is self-serving and is detrimental to common good.

Extrajudicial Killings. Extrajudicial killings include "disappearances" where people are abducted, never heard from again and a body is never located. The killings' desired impact is fear, paralysis and the breakdown of organizations that are vocal in its opposition and efficient in mobilizing public protest.

Power Hoarding. Many politicians seek to perpetuate themselves in power. Upon reaching term limits, incumbent politicians endorse bench warmers so they can easily reclaim their posts after three years. Others simply shift from the executive branch to the legislative branch such as from governor to congressman or mayor to congressman and vice-versa.

HOPE IN THESE TROUBLED TIMES

The seemingly insurmountable issues of our political landscape have caused many Filipinos to focus on personal godliness and to distance from communal responsibility. Hopelessness has crept in and has weakened the Filipino spirit.

In Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI said that to have faith is to hope. To continue to hope for peace, justice and equality of human dignity is faithfulness to the Father's will.

Hope for People Empowerment. Aristotle, in his book Politics, called democracy as the best form of government. However, he pointed out that there can only be democracy where the majority comes from the middle class. The wide gap between the rich and the poor obstructs authentic democracy because a master and slave relationship reigns between the leaders and the citizens.

With a vast number of Filipinos, generation after generation, living under massive poverty and with the handful elite running the country, we must admit in humility that there is no genuine democracy. There is an urgent need to confront this truth so we can hope for the right kind of change.

To hope for democracy is to hope for the creation of a middle class; and the middle class can only be created when there is genuine people empowerment. The middle class, as poetically described by PCP II, "is neither so poor that they have nothing to give nor so rich that they have nothing to need."  But more than income and resources, the middle class is identified by their attitude towards and participation in society. The middle class can be self-reliant and can break away from mendicancy or dependence from the ruling elite.

Therefore, I invite you to reflect together as ecclesial communities how you can contribute to people empowerment and the creation of the middle class through education, capital and ownership in the light of the Church's social teachings.

Hope for Social Justice. While people empowerment is an essential requisite for democracy, the virtue required to create and nourish democracy is social justice. The equal dignity of human persons requires the effort to reduce excessive social and economic inequalities. Bridging the gap between the rich and poor, the powerful and the marginalized, the elite and the lower class - this is the essence of social justice.

When we are concerned only about our family's welfare, when we accumulate material possessions excessively even if through legal means, when our lives are measured by the income and properties we acquire, we create greater inequality between rich and poor. To be socially just, we must break the apathy and indifference, and begin looking at ourselves as members of our community.

The founding of the Kapatiran Party is evidence that there are among our lay faithful who are committed to their role as members of the Church in the society. In the Kapatiran Party, we find a deep concern to promote a sense of community among our people and restore integrity in politics. Its participation in the 2010 elections may be an uphill battle but it is a concrete sign that the hope for social justice is alive.

Social justice as a virtue can be expressed in many ways. When we bring to the public forum the condemnation of prostitution, jueteng, illegal logging and quarrying; when we hold our political leaders accountable for graft and corrupt practices, lavish lifestyles and abuse of power; when we organize ourselves to protect religious rights, the integrity of families and the life of the unborn, every time we exercise our civil and political rights to promote the common good, we practice social justice.

Hope for the Kingdom of God. When Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King in 1925, he called upon Christians to recognize only one King and one Kingdom: Christ and God's Kingdom. To mature in our faith, we must clearly distinguish between the kingdom of man and the kingdom of God. The exercise of rights, the lay faithful's participation in the public square and in politics must be not motivated by patronage and subservience to any political leader in the building of human and personal kingdoms, but must be impelled by the mission to build God's kingdom on earth.

God invites us to His Kingdom, not only as a future reward but as a present reality. All our efforts for people empowerment, all our struggles for social justice find fullness and meaning when they lead us to the kingdom of God.

When our sight is not set on seeking the Kingdom of God, all our labours are designed upon our own individual self-centered will. Thus, the marginalized will continue to be disadvantaged, the poor will only become poorer and the oppressed will never find justice.

When we hope for a better future, for a better society, we hope for the kingdom of God. To establish His Kingdom, we must fully engage in investing on moral treasure and not material treasure, in restoring a social order that respects the primacy of human dignity and in building the moral well-being of our country.

Conclusion

The coming elections can be a fresh start in our hope for a better future. But in order for the election to mark a new beginning, we must accord it with sincerity and understanding that the change of leaders does not mean a change of systems. Electing new leaders does not guarantee an end to the scams and corruption. We must hope for the right change so real transformation can take place.

We need to create and strengthen the middle class before we can witness genuine democracy. However, we can only empower the people if we develop the virtue of social justice. And the creation of the middle class finds true motive, inspiration and fulfilment in building God's kingdom on earth.

People empowerment and social justice is not a work of one man, or even one administration. It is the work of one people - the people of God - that are in different human institutions and sectors of society: in the family, the Church, the schools, the business sector, non-government, civic and people's organizations, and government.

By our baptism, we received a prophetic mission: to see, judge and act. We must be vigilant at all times. We need to see and understand the long-standing suffering of our people. We must make judgments, not only opinions. We need to discern and identify the evil that has caused our society to continuously suffer. Lastly, we must make a move. We need to denounce the evil by making the kingdom of God present in our lives and in our institutions.

A keen understanding of the causes of our misery and a conviction to rise above it will equip us to bring about the transformation that we truly need and deserve as a Filipino nation.

In Mary's Magnificat, Ina echoes God's promise of His Kingdom. It is the Kingdom where the poor are no longer powerless. It is the Kingdom where: "He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly." (Luke 1:52) Her Magnificat moves us to be a constituency of the kingdom of God and not of the kingdom of man.

Upon all I impart my New Year's blessing.

+ LEONARDO Z. LEGASPI, O.P.,D.D.

Archbishop of Caceres

January 1, 2010